Skin cancer whack-a-mole (II)

This is part two of this week’s skin cancer post. The firstpart describes my experiences with skin cancer. This part explains the difference between actinic keratosis and the three types of cancers:

• Actinic keratosis: a pre-cancerous patch of thick, scaly, or crusty skin. Though they are considered pre-cancerous, less than 1% develop into squamous cell cancers per year (per person). The usual treatment for actinic keratosis is to freeze them off with liquid nitrogen. 
• Basal cell carcinoma: the most common kind of skin cancer and the most common kind of cancer in humans. Basal cell carcinoma is simply cancer of the basal cells in the skin—the cells in the lowest layer of the epidermis. (See illustration below.) They grow slowly, but should be treated because they can grow into nearby areas and invade the bone or other tissues beneath the skin. Basal cell cancers are surgically removed.

• Squamous cell carcinoma: like basal cell carcinomas, they are cancers of a layer of skin cells—the squamous cells. Squamous cell cancers are more likely to grow into deeper layers of skin and spread to other parts of the body than basal cell cancers, although this is uncommon. At any rate, they’re considered more dangerous than basal cell carcinomas. Apparently 60% of squamous cancers arise from pre-existing actinic keratosis. These cancers are surgically removed.
•  Melanoma cancers: develop from melanocytes, the pigment-making cells of the skin. Melanocytes can also form moles--benign (non-cancerous) growths. Melanomas are much less common than basal and squamous cell cancers, but they are more likely to grow and spread if left untreated.

You can find plenty of pictures of these kind of cancers on the internet, but I don’t recommend it.

Next week: Some dermatological surgery rip-offs

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